title: Patient information-seeking behaviors when communicating with doctors.
abstract: In order to better understand patient differences in question asking and other information-seeking behaviors when communicating with doctors, 106 rehabilitation medicine patients were studied. Sociodemographic data, attitude measures, interview data and tape recordings of doctor-patient encounters revealed that patients desired information about a wide range of medical topics but did not engage in many information-seeking behaviors when communicating with doctors. While desiring information, patients regarded doctors as the appropriate persons to make medical decisions. Regression analyses indicated that patient information-seeking behaviors were more directly associated with situational variables (length of interaction, diagnosis, reason for visit) than with patient attitudes or sociodemographic characteristics. Patient attitudes influenced patient information-seeking behaviors only for patients with interactions lasting at least 19 minutes, indicating that a longer interaction may be necessary for patient attitudes regarding desire for information and participation in medical decisions to manifest themselves in information-seeking communication behavior.
authors.affiliation: Center on Aging, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City.
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Beisecker
authors.forename: T D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Beisecker
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003142:Communication; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015146:Midwestern United States; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010358:Patient Participation; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012044:Regression Analysis